1338 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



le Chasteau de Richelieu 1217 



en Poictou," given in Ma- 

 rot's RccueU des Plans, tyc., 

 des plusieurs de Chastcau.v y 

 Grottes, &c., published in 

 1 661, of which our fig. 1218. 

 is a copy, a very rich parterre 

 of embroidery may be ob- 

 served in the fore-ground 

 with a fountain in the centre; 

 and, in the back-ground, a 

 large semi circular space ap- 

 pears to be covered with the 

 same description of orna- 

 ment. It may also be ob- 

 served, that there is not a 

 single tree or shrub shown in 

 a natural state within several hundred feet of the house, on every side. The 

 embroidered style of parterre is still occasionally to be met with adjoin- 



1218 



ing very old residences in France and Italy, and even in a few places in 

 England; and, as affording variety, it is at least as worthy of revival as the 

 architectural style of the age in which it most extensively prevailed. The 

 best designs in this style are to be found in the edition of Boyceau's Jardinagc, 

 &c., which was published in 17 14-, in folio. Topiary work, or the art of cut- 

 ting the box and other trees into artificial forms, was carried to such an 

 extent among the Romans, that both Pliny and Vitruvius use the word 

 topiarius to express the art of the gardener ; a proof that, as far as ornament 

 was concerned, the art of clipping was considered the highest accomplishment 

 that could be possessed by a gardener, among the ancient Romans. This 



